Wednesday, August 3, 2011

More Expensive Signature Bounties, Robo-Calls, Deceptive Tactics Show Petition Drives Are Struggling To Make Progress

SAN DIEGO – The ballot measure campaigns sponsored by big business have increased their per-signature bounty to $5 on a supposed “slam dunk” pension initiative, five times higher than when the campaign started.

This finding and other recent news illustrate a growing sense of desperation from the campaigns.

- Petition gatherers have been caught baiting shoppers to sign their petitions under the false pretense that signing will help “lower gas prices.” No such initiative is on file with the Secretary of State.

- At the San Diego Pride parade and festival last month, petition gatherers for the corporate campaigns asked passersby to sign petitions to make gay marriage legal in California. No such petition is on file with the Secretary of State.

- In addition to the five-fold increase in the bounty for the pension ballot measure, petitions for the ban on project labor agreements have doubled to $1.50 per signature.

- Petition gatherers have made misstatements about exempting firefighters (false), whether city employees receive Social Security (false), whether non-union workers are banned from working on city projects (yet again, false), and other important considerations about these ballot measures.

- Republican Councilmembers and their surrogates have held publicity stunts like “drive-thru” signature gatherings at Wal-Mart and placed robo-calls to voters asking them to sign the petition.

- Media accounts show these City of San Diego ballot measure campaigns have been asking patrons from other cities like La Mesa to sign their petitions in order to drive up their signature count.

The Just Say No campaign has been compiling video and audio footage of examples of where the petition drives have employed the aforementioned desperation tactics.

For more information, or for an interview, please contact Evan McLaughlin at 619-850-2790.